The number buried deep in President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget was a startling one: $21.8 billion to help students who are up to their necks in student loan debt.
And it’s one that, in combination with other ominous economic indicators, ought to prompt policymakers to redouble efforts to make a college education affordable for the next generation.
A vibrant middle class is the lifeblood of this nation, and a college education has become a necessary credential in most cases to be a member.
So that $21.8 billion shortfall is a stark reminder that college costs remain a serious problem, and that much more must be done to contain them.
In Colorado, we should find a way to increase public support for higher education, but also ways to boost productivity, perhaps through a greater emphasis on online education. And we should explore to muster additional scholarship resources for needy students, as the Hickenlooper administration has begun to do.
The eye-opening number on student debt bailout was , which also said it was the largest shortfall ever recorded for a government credit program.
Collectively, there is $1.2 trillion in outstanding student debt, a number that is escalating even as other categories of consumer debt — such as credit card debt, home equity loans and automotive debt — decline.
The class of 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal, is the . More than 70 percent of graduates have debt, and the average amount they owe is $33,000. Even accounting for inflation, that’s double what graduates from 20 years ago shouldered.
You don’t have to be an economist to understand how such debt would cripple graduates’ chances of buying a house or car, or even save for retirement and their own children’s educations.
Policymakers must address this growing economic time bomb and demand better efficiencies and productivity from higher education institutions.
For example, today’s young “digital natives” are far more likely to embrace online courses than previous generations.
And in Colorado, we cannot ignore the thicket of budgetary restraints that leaves higher education highly vulnerable to reductions when economic times get tough.
Forgiving debt to allow graduates to survive economically is a compassionate decision, but it is not a sustainable long-term plan.
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